I

Annabeth

Eight months. That's about eight months too long for my liking. One moment Percy was here at Camp Half-Blood and the next he was nowhere to be found. Hera had taken him away from me. She came into my dreams and told me that in order to find Percy, I would have to find a boy with one shoe. Of course I didn't find Percy, I found Jason. His memories wiped clean. But Jason helped me realize Hera's actual plans. I now understand her logic, but it still doesn't change the fact that I want to slap her in the godly face for kidnapping my boyfriend. I felt so close to finding him when I met Jason, but yet so far. But being on the Argo II made me feel closer to him than I've ever felt on my entire search. I've been searching nonstop for the last eight months and I still couldn't believe that I would be with him in just a few hours. This would probably be the longest few hours of my life.

Just then Piper walked in and was I zapped back into the real world.

"You should get some rest," she said. "We're going to be there in a couple hours, and besides you haven't slept, you'll need your energy."

That's true of course. I've barely slept, mostly because whenever I close my eyes nightmares take over and I would wake in the middle of the night screaming, covered in sweat. But my body protested and soon I became limp and my eyes blinked shut.

Naturally, I had nightmares. Unfortunately, it was the same ones I've been having for months.

I dreamed I was in a large building, with no roof and many arched windows, the stars and the moon were easily visible. The building around me was in the shape of an oval with stairs covering the inside walls like an arena. The Coliseum, I thought. I was in Rome, Ancient Rome, not today of course, the stone was much too polished and new. It was nighttime and I stood alone in the middle of the arena, it felt so peaceful yet so lonely, but I've had this dream too many times to become too comfortable.

Then all of a sudden, the earth shook and dark gray clouds covered the beautiful stars. The Coliseum walls were engulfed into the shadows and I now stood in a dark cave. The shadows darkened and before long it was almost pitch black, but I was still able to see the horrifying creatures. There were eight of them. Huge masses of fused tendrils rose from the earth. Through the tendrils I could see parts of a head, a wide shoulder, and a massive chest. All eight of them struggling and trying to break free and I didn't really want to stick around when they escaped to find out whether they were the nice guys.

I turned to run, but I couldn't, like someone was pulling me back. My feet were stuck into the ground. Mud crept upward and soon I was covered in a knee-deep hill of mud. I kicked my feet, desperately trying to free the earth bonds that only seemed to make me sink in deeper like quicksand. Then the voice came into my mind.

My giants will soon awake from their prison, she said calmly. Go ahead, bring your fellow demigods to Rome. But remember, I'll be waiting and soon I will fully wake along with my children!

The temperature seemed to have dropped twenty degrees and the mud was now to my hips. The earth around me seemed to be absorbing the energy in my body and soon I felt weak and vulnerable. While I became more frail, the eight tendrils in the earth seemed to be rising becoming stronger and more powerful.

You can struggle all you want little half-blood, but you will never escape my grasp, her voice sounded more alert and whole lot more convincing. You will soon find the wits to join me. That seemed a little ironic considering that I was a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom. Once I get you on my side, my little pawn will not hesitate to join along with you, and soon I will have all seven heroes in my clasp.

Then the scene blurred and changed, and I was back at Camp-Half Blood sitting next to Percy at the Poseidon table. It was about a year ago and it was when I finally got the big idiot to kiss me. There was laughing and kissing and a surprise swim in the canoe lake. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. But right when Clarisse and the other campers were about to dump us into the lake, they just dropped me onto the ground. The ground never reached me, for the campers had dropped me into a deep and endless pit of darkness where Gaea would consume me.